Top 10 Minor League Seasons Regardless of Prospect Status

[videographer]

This list was created to highlight those players doing well in the system. A Cubs minor league POY will most likely come out of this list. Also, the list shows what a good year looks like and how the Cubs' players compare to other organizations. No player has put up great power numbers, a very high batting average or elite SB totals. However, the position players on the list have excellent OPS. The pitching stats are more impressive with wins, ERA and WHIP.

 

1. Chris Archer

W L ERA G GS CG IP H SO BB WHIP

12 2 2.04 21 20 0 105 75 31 113 1.13

 

2. Trey McNutt

W L ERA G GS CG IP H BB SO WHIP

8 0 2.00 19 19 0 85.2 61 31 100 1.07

 

3. Robinson Chirnos

AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO OBP SLG OPS

.310 72 248 49 77 22 0 15 62 38 32 .401 .581 .982

 

4. Brad Snyder

AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS SLG OPS

.306 100 353 68 108 27 5 17 82 38 91 16 1 .555 .928

 

5. Bryan LaHair

AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO OBP SLG OPS

.315 93 308 48 97 26 0 17 61 32 67 .383 .565 .948

 

6. Brett Jackson

AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS OBP SLG OPS

.307 98 374 78 115 27 10 9 53 61 95 22 9 .413 .505 .918

 

7. Thomas Diamond

W L ERA G GS CG IP H BB SO WHIP

5 4 3.16 21 21 0 108 86 46 104 1.22

 

8. Austin Bibens-Dirkx

W L ERA G GS CG IP H BB SO WHIP

8 3 3.02 23 18 0 104 75 43 35 1.05

 

9. Russ Canzler

AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO OBP SLG OPS

.294 84 245 47 72 20 2 16 43 31 62 .377 .588 .965

 

10. Tony Campana

AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS OBP

.324 103 376 59 122 16 4 0 25 35 61 35 18 .383

 

Those who were close to making the list:

Michael Brenly

Darwin Barney

Hung-Wen Chen

Junior Lake

Hak-Ju Lee

Brandon Guyer

Chris Carpenter

 

An argument can be made that only 3 or the 10 are above average ML prospects and 4 are fringe ML prospects.

[TruffleShuffle]

archer definitely has the inside track on minor league pitcher of the year, with 12 wins versus only 8 for mcnutt (yes i know wins are stupid, but people look at them)

 

hitters are a lot more up in the air. canzler should be higher on the list; a .965 ops in the southern league is more impressive than what most of the iowa guys have done.

[javy knows my name]

After looking at that writer's preseason top 20, I noticed he had neither Archer nor McNutt before this year. I understand Archer had awesome stuff, but huge command problems that disappeared this year, but what about McNutt? Why did he shoot up so quickly? Was he walking the world before, too?

[videographer]

but what about McNutt? Why did he shoot up so quickly? Was he walking the world before, too?

 

McNutt was a 32nd round pick in the 2009 draft. The last calendar year has been pretty good for the former Junior College pitcher. It seems only Tim Wilken had the patience to draft and wait for McNutt to blossom last summer.

[Outshined_One]

After looking at that writer's preseason top 20, I noticed he had neither Archer nor McNutt before this year. I understand Archer had awesome stuff, but huge command problems that disappeared this year, but what about McNutt? Why did he shoot up so quickly? Was he walking the world before, too?

 

If you go back through the NSBB Prospect Rankings from the offseason, you'll notice none of us had McNutt in our Top 20s. McNutt's prospect status prior to this season was clouded by a few things...

 

1) Some of the pre-draft reports on McNutt were nondescript. The Cubs lucked out on drafting him because the area scout who initially saw him quit and his replacement saw McNutt later in the year, when his stuff was much improved, but very few scouts had seen him with the improved stuff.

 

2) McNutt's numbers were fairly pedestrian between Mesa and Boise. He'd walked 12 guys in a little over 27 innings and was bounced between starting and relief. A guy like that doesn't stand out.

 

3) I think it was BA that mentioned he was working in the mid to high 90s with a plus breaking pitch. That got him on most people's radars to the point where he was listed in our Top 30s, but that kind of profile sounds more like a future relief pitcher than starter.

 

A lot of people had him as a breakout candidate, to be fair.

[javy knows my name]

Awesome, thank you. What's the consensus (if there is one) on who between the two has the bigger ceiling?